David Ramsey's Baby Steps Update Friday 11/16/12

I love to read David Ramsey's books and listen to his CD's. Once we found a set of his CDs at a yard sale and bought for just a few dollars. After listening to it for over a month we finally sold the set on eBay for a nice profit. I am always on the look out for another set of CDs. Will again refresh myself with his ideas and then resell.

There was a time we were drowning in debt, hated it but did nothing about it. Times have changed and our debt is shrinking and our emergency fund is slowly growing. Our challenge is baby step number 1 and have a $1,000 dollars in the savings account that is not earmarked for nothing else but emergency. We are about half way to that first $1,000 and debt is shrinking to just the car payment and a small loan of $300. Once we get to the $1,000 mark we will put any extra money on the car till paid off. Once the car is paid off I want this money to go into savings towards the time we need another car. Would be nice to have a good chunk to put down on a used car.

How is your savings account is it growing or will it shrink with the holidays around the corner. We plan to shop for gifts on the frugal side and of course there is no credit cards to use so no damage will be done in this catagory.

Thanks for stopping to read about my baby step number 1 challenge. I hope for you that your savings account is growing and your debt is shrinking. Grace

WIERD WEDNESDAY ~ ARE YOU HOARDING YOUR PENNIES

Are you hoarding coins? Here is interesting article on why some people are hoarding pennies and nickles.

I have been putting pre 1982 pennies in a large bottle. I believe that it will be a long time before the goverment allows copper pennies to be melt. But in the mean time I am having fun looking through pennies, sorting any wheats I may find and putting pre 1982 in this vintage bottle I bought at an auction.
I have been saving nickles and dimes from my change to put in my savings account. Painless way to save some money. I also throw a dollar or two in a cookie jar. Just added $40.00 to savings account last week from my cookie jar. I took the tin that was full of pennies to the bank. We added $12.95 to savings account today towards the start of an emergency fund,  $62.95 so far. I want to start with a minimum of $1,000, snowball two small loans and then work to pay off the car.
I will have to check out the hoarding coin chat site soon.
Are saving your pennies or do you plan to start saving your copper pennies? I plan to roll up my copper pennies and sell on eBay when I have a desirable amount. This will then be added to emergency fund.
The nickles and dimes being thown into jars will be brought down to the bank next time I fill up my penny tin.
How is your emergency fund coming? Are you working to pay down your debts to become debt free?
Grace

To Live With Or Without Credit Cards

To live with or without credit cards is in the news more now than ever with the recent credit problems.

This morning my dh sent me a link for an article he thought I would enjoy called Seven Secrets Of Living Without A Credit Card.

During last year’s Black Friday shopping, about half as many consumers paid with plastic as had the previous year, according to America’s Research Group. And credit card ownership dropped to 67 percent in 2010 from 71 percent in 2008. .. Those are interesting facts.

We have chosen to no longer rely on credit cards to live. We live on a real budget for the first time in our marriage. In the past their was always the budget, which really meant paying the bills. But in the past if we wanted to go to dinner and cash was low we put it on one of our many credit cards. If we wanted to take off to Las Vegas to celebrate our wedding anniversary and New Years Eve no need to save up for it, we would just charge it and plan to pay if off. Of course the Las Vegas trip was not paid off by the end of the month so the debt came home with us. What kind of a vacation is that.

Here is the seven secrets .. go to the article to read it in full.


You’ll spend less... Well that is a no brainer for us. If the cash has run out there is no reason to go out to dinner or buy something we really do not need. Makes us think twice about our money and where we want it to be spent.

You’ll probably save more .. if we do not have that credit card as our emergency cushion
we come with ways to live on less and save more. We are setting our priorities and hoping to be an example for family members.

Renting a car is more of a hassle .. okay some car companies will want to put a hold on your debit account but if we do not have the extra money in our bank account then why are we traveling and renting a car.

Ditto for getting an apartment or a house .. okay with no credit card debt your credit score may not be as high. You may have to do more work to show your income and financial business but that is worth more to me than being slave to the credit card companies. Hubby and sure sleep better at night.

You can always go back.. that is true you give up the credit cards for years. You can always go back to get a credit card. Weekly we get credit card offers with 0 interest for a year. No thank you credit card company I no more want to go back to being in debt to you than I want to start smoking or drinking again. I care about my financial health as much as I do my physical health.

Not everyone thinks it’s smart to live on cash and not have a credit card. It is believed that we can not control our selves. Well okay there were times we could not control our selves. Anyone you carries a credit card balance probably can not control them selves. Otherwise it would be paid off at the end of the month. It is a known fact that if a credit card is used more money is spent.

There’s a psychological benefit to having a credit card. We use to think of the credit cards as an emergency fund. Now we work at living on less and putting money into a savings account for our emergency fund.

So could you live with or without credit cards?

We can and do .
Yes we do not go traveling like we use to.
We do not go out to eat 3 to 5 times a week.
But we do not owe any credit card company.
We are eating better and less and both of us sleep better every night.

thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together and please remember
Never under estimate the value of a small amount of money... Grace

2010 Budget Plans

Dear hubby and I have been working on our 2010 budget. Our biggest problem is we are in our 60's and semi retired. There is not enough income to cover all the out go. Our biggest challenge is to pay our own health insurance mainly mine.
I am pleased to see so many young people working on budgets, paying off debt and building up savings. I heard all this 40 years ago but never did any of it. I just built up debt and put off saving for retirement. We lived in the moment. Now our retirement is not what someone would want.
So here we are 61 and 66 years old and working part time jobs. We have a some debt mainly a car loan of under $10,800. But each month we are struggling to keep that part time money coming in and trying to sell on eBay for extra cash. We have sold on eBay since 1998 but with economy we are making less than in the past.
We will as in the past do taxes at H R Block for the season and this will give us income, but could interfer with the other part time income and not put us ahead. Time will tell.

So for 2010 our goals are to
Make enough money every month to cover the shortage of $1200 or cut back where necessary to balance the month.
Build up a $1000 emergency fund . We will be putting $150 a month into savings to do this. Savings is very little since my life insurance bill is due end of year and we did not have all money needed.
Give at least $300 a month to the church ear marking it to the needy or Salvation Army to feed the hungry.
Put money into a traveling budget so we can go home to Minnesota to see our children in 2010. and have an end of the year trip. We were not able to travel home this year.
Budget $250 a month for groceries and personal items . Should there be any money left over it will roll to next month grocery fund so if there is a refund I want to do I can have a build up of cash.
Budget $250 a month for eating out. Should not all this money be spent it will go into savings for our emergency fund.
Once emergency fund is at $1,000 then extra money will be put on car loan to pay if off sooner.
End of season at H R Block if there is a bonus this will be put either on emergency fund or car loan.
Any extra rewards at CVS, Walgreens etc will be used for groceries or personal items.
Refund / Rebates will go into emergency fund. I am waiting $58.00 in rebates to still come.

On a personal note
I want to excercise at least 3 times a week
Lose a total of 40 pounds over the year
Declutter my home, selling excess on ebay.

Are you preparing for next years budget and goals. I would love to hear your plans.

Thanks For Stopping By... Lets Keep Saving Together ... Grace